Maternity Voices Partnership

Womens Health Matters chairs Leeds Maternity Voices Partnerships (previously MSLC)- a city wide forum which brings health professionals and funders for maternity services and third sector organisations together with those who have used maternity services in Leeds. The forum enables these professionals to listen to those who have recently been pregnant and given birth (and partners) to help improve their services for other people. Through outreach work and our inclusive approach, we are able to support a wide range of people to speak directly to service providers and commissioners and for their experiences to influence how maternity services develop.

The project offers the following for women who participate –

Support with transport and snacks

Crèche

Emotional support before and after meetings for women to enable them to participate

What women have said about MVP-

They took time to listen to us individually and to our own personal experiences and took them into account to be able to improve the services. They were more than welcoming and made us feel a part of the team and were patient with the children. It was a great experience to have been involved in and I would love to do it again in a heartbeat.

The MSLC has a good reputation within the service user groups I am part of as an organisation which seeks to positively impact on service provision and improve patient experience.

With my nerves I am easily intimidated but everyone I spoke to was engaging encouraging and made me feel very positive about my ideas.